Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1887-05-07

An Industry Which Has
Spread Rapidly IN the South.
Var.ous Useful Products Extracted From
Al Article One Thrown Away


pounds OF seed and 500 pounis OF lint
As about two scre~ Of land are required
to rslse bale Of cotton, one acre Will
produce about 500 pounds Of cotton seed
which brings the planter 80 per ION or
- ~ per acre A ton OF seed yields 10
gallons Of oil, which sells for about 30
cents per gallon. 1t also yields about 20
pounds Of short staple lint, useful for
making cotton batting, etc. Besides
there is the meal, formerly considered
valuable only to mix with other food for
cattle, but which IS now returned to the
The gossypiun is fertilizer especial
ly adapted to the needs OF cotton, and
its principal ingredient is cotton-seed
meal, or the pulverized cake from which
cotton seed oil has been expressed. As
the gossvpium factory is dependent upon
the oil mill for material, and the latter
finds in the fertilizer works ready
market for It's largest product, the two
are often found closely connected and
governed bv mutual interests.
The cotton upon entering the
mill first passes through the "!inters'-
delicate machines which remove from
each separate seed every particle of its
feecy covering which has escaped the
crudcr process of the cotton gin. From
the Inter it goes Ato the huier, where
its hull or she'll is split open and torn off.
The meat is then boiled in huge cal
drons, during which operation it gives
out rich, unctous odor, suggestive of
culinary operations on large scale, but
not at ali unpleasant. The boiled seed,
encased IN small coarse bags, then
goes to press. > Twenty bags filled
with the wc!l-cooked mass are thrust into
as many rcceptacles of an Immensely
powerful steam-press. Power is applied
gradually, but with terribly relentless
energy, until the oil, flowing out IN
steadT streams, and hndlnS its way tc
the receiving tanks below, has been en-
tlreiy expressed IRON the several bags,
anu each contains merely a hard, dry
cake. From these cakes the sacklne
covering IS stripped, to 0e used again,
and they are thrust INTO the jaws OF
RAPIDLY revolving mil that instantly re-
duces them to meal, which goes to the
| fertilizer factory across the way.
The Atlanta cotton-seed oil mill pro-
duccs 10, 900 barrels Of oil and 1000 tons
OF meaP annually. 1t IS possible to Sc
refine this oil as to produce tasteless
odorless and colorless liquid, and it
sphere Of usefulness is being daily cx
tended. 1t is largely used in adultera
tions, and it is stated upon good author
ity that one-fourth of all the lard used il
this country is cotton-see oil.
In this Atlanta mill nothing is wasted
even the hulls of the cotton seed ar
utilized as fuel beneath the boilers 0
| its 150-horse-power engine. Not fonl,
do these hul.s furnish fuel for this mill
but half Of them forced through 500 fee
OF pneumatls pipe, reach the adJacen
"gossypiun'' works, AMI there form tn
only fuel used TO heat its boilers. Be
sides cotton-seed meal, the Ingredient
OF the ''gossypium phospho' are SUI
/ phurlc acid, which IS manufactured O
the premises rom sulphur Imported b
the shlp'oaa from Sicily, murlate